to be found as the estate of an
individual landowner, and the vast majority of holdings run between
one and three acres. With three acres a family is deemed very
comfortable, and the possession of ten acres means luxury.

The only class which at all resembles the territorial magnates of
other countries is the class of retired officials. The wealth of an
official is not infrequently invested in land, and consequently there
are in most provinces several families with a country seat and the
usual insignia of local rank and influence. On the decease of the
heads or founders of such families it is considered dignified for the
sons to live together, sharing the rents and profits in common. This
is sometimes continued for several generations, until the country seat
becomes an agglomeration of households and the family a sort of clan.
A family of this kind, with literary traditions, and with the means to
educate the young men, is constantly sending its scions into the
public service. These in turn bring their earnings to swell the common
funds, while the rank and dignity which they may earn add to the
importance and standing of the group as a whole. The members of this
class are usually termed the _literati_ or gentry.

The complex character of the Chinese is shown in various ways. Side by
side with the reverence of ancestors the law recognizes the right of
the parent to sell his offspring into slavery and among the poor this
is not an uncommon practice, though in comparison with the total
population the number of slaves is few. The kidnapping of children for
sale as slaves is carried on, but there is no slave raiding. There are
more female than male slaves; the descendants of male slaves acquire
freedom in the fifth generation. While every Chinese man is anxious to
have male children, girls are often considered superfluous.

The position of women is one of distinct inferiority; a woman is
always subject to the men of her family--before marriage to her
father, during marriage to her husband, in widowhood to her son; these
states being known as "the three obediences." Sons who do not,
however, honour their mothers outrage public opinion. Polygamy is
tolerated, secondary wives being sometimes provided by the first wife
when she is growing old. Secondary wives are subordinate to first
wives. A wife may be divorced for any one of seven reasons. The sale
of w